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The history of our world in 18 minutes

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David Christian |

TED2011

• March 2011

Backed by stunning illustrations, David Christian narrates a complete history of the universe, from the Big Bang to the Internet, in a riveting 18 minutes. This is "Big History": an enlightening, wide-angle look at complexity, life and humanity, set against our slim share of the cosmic timeline.

Want to use TED Talks in your organization?

Want to use TED Talks in your organization?

Backed by stunning illustrations, David Christian narrates a complete history of the universe, from the Big Bang to the Internet, in a riveting 18 minutes. This is "Big History": an enlightening, wide-angle look at complexity, life and humanity, set against our slim share of the cosmic timeline.

Want to use TED Talks in your organization?

This talk was presented at an official TED conference.

Read our curation guidelines.

Learn about 13.7 billion years of shared history via a Big History course.

Organize a Big History lesson for students.

About the speaker

David Christian

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David Christian teaches an ambitious world history course that tells the tale of the entire universe -- from the Big Bang 13 billion years ago to present day.

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Maps of Time

David Christian | University of California Press (2011)

David Christian - *Maps of Time*

Since the Talk: Big history gets even bigger

David Christian shares how he reduced the story of 13 billion years to 18 minutes — and how big history is now being taught around the globe.

This talk was presented at an official TED conference.

Read our curation guidelines.

Learn about 13.7 billion years of shared history via a Big History course.

Organize a Big History lesson for students.

David Christian: The history of our world in 18 minutes | TED Talk